John Van Houten

Our brother John, lost his battle with lung disease on Saturday October 10, 2026, with us by his side.

John was born in Billings, Montana, the second child of Jack Lyle Van Houten and Marion Stiles Van Houten. His childhood was a free ranging Montana style experience. Winters were long and cold, summers brief and glorious. He made good use of those years learning to hunt, fish, ride horses, camp; enjoying just about anything the western states are famous for. His childhood gave him a lifelong love of the natural world especially the intermountain west and the creatures within.

In 1962 the family moved to Rexburg, Idaho. After graduating from Madison High School, he continued his education at Idaho State University. His studies were interrupted when he joined the Marines to serve during the Vietnam War.

After his return from the service, he spent many years pursuing his education and other times working as a carpenter.

During the eighties and nineties, he finally settled in the Tucson area. He worked as a museum guide and as a seasonal Interpretive Ranger in Great Basin National Park. It was during these years that he finally hit his stride. He became a noted photographer, selling his pictures to this day through his website.

As the years passed, the wound he sustained in Vietnam slowed him considerably: he spent the remainder of his working years as a store manager in the Tucson area. After his retirement, he returned to Rexburg to care for his mother as she aged.

John never met a kid, a dog or a cat that he didn’t love. He arrived home from his military discharge in an old Ford with three dogs that he somehow acquired during his drive from the East Coast. He was a lifelong champion of his dearly loved intermountain west. On his arrival at the hospital last week, he told the doctors there was no better place to be than here in the Snake River valley.

He is survived by his sisters, Leslie Van Houten, San Francisco, California and Anne Craig,Mountain Rest, South Carolina and a nephew, Colin Craig, Lexington, Kentucky.

There are no services planned at this time. A celebration of life will be announced at a later date.